


In the name of love

by slowmode



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Free Spirited Minho, Friendship, ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, Implied/Referenced Parental Death, Insecure Jisung, Inspired by Yuri!!! on Ice, M/M, Minor Angst, Resemblances to Yuri On Ice, Romance, Strangers to Lovers, minor seungbin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:00:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23366587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slowmode/pseuds/slowmode
Summary: After the Korean figure skater Han Jisung faces a defeat during the Grand Prix, he decides to return, depressed and defeated, to his home country where he tries to sort out his life.But then a video of him mimicking the routine of the figure skating legend Lee Minho goes viral. Lee Minho flies to Incheon to meet the young figure skater and offers his help: he'll be his coach and train him to win what might be Jisung's last season.
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know
Comments: 9
Kudos: 73





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> big thanks to my friend (ao3: rosixquinn) for beta reading it xoxo

**_December_ **

Hectic. Loud. Nerve-wracking.

These words perfectly describe the place, that gathers many situations together, each of them different from each other.

The airport.

A group of flight attendants rushes to their plane, pulling their small suitcases behind them. The clacking sound of their high heels echoes through the hall, covered by the loud chatter. Different sounds from different corners fill the airport: parents shushing their crying children, acquaintances laughing about the stories they’re being told, the clattering sound as the waiters from the mini cafés collect the dishes.

Jisung sits on the nearest seat next to the big windows in order to avoid and isolate himself from the big, intimidating crowd. Jisung turns his head to the windows, where outside he sees airplanes being prepared to take off: some men are throwing the suitcases in the luggage compartment. His eyes wander up to the sky, the golden sun slowly dips behind the wide horizon. The weak rays linger in the sky, mingling under the rolling, peach-greyish colored clouds, painting the blue color of the sky into a mix of lilac and pastel pink.

The sudden vibration in his hand, caused by his phone, snaps him back to reality. He turns his head down to his lap, his heart dropping in his gut as he sees the caller ID. He shuts his eyes, inhaling slowly before he accepts the call and places his phone near his ear.

_ “Hey Jisung, how are you feeling, my little brother?” _ Jisung’s lips curl into a soft smile when he hears his older brother’s, Yieun’s voice (better known ask Mark). Yet he can’t ignore the discernable concern in his voice, the guilt crawling underneath his skin. 

Jisung sighs sadly. “Honestly… Could be better. How about you?”

_ “Quiet good, just worried about you.” _

“I’m fine.”

_ “Are you sure?” _

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Jisung reassures with a fake grin plastered on his face, trying to hold back tears. 

_ “Okay.”  _ A long pause.  _ “When does your plane land?” _

Jisung puffs up his chubby cheeks before he exhales a long, tired sigh. “In all honesty, I don’t know, but I guess at 11 a.m.” While he waits for Mark’s answer, he takes out his headphones from the front pocket of his black backpack, which was a small goodbye gift from his father a few days before flying to Canada.

_ “Just don’t miss your flight.” _

“I will not,” Jisung snorts as he rolls his eyes, shaking his head lightly. He quickly removes his phone from his ear, glancing at the time on his lockscreen. 

4.46 p.m.

“I really don’t want to end the phone call but I need to go on the plane soon.”

_ “Okay, I understand. Goodbye, Jisungie. Have a safe flight and take good care of yourself. I hope you know that I’m always proud of you. Love you.” _

“Love you too. Bye, Mark hyung.”

Three beeps signified that the call had been disconnected. Jisung’s hand drops onto his lap, his fingers gripping his phone tightly. He couldn’t stop the tears from running their way down his cheeks. He nibbles on his lower lip, forcing himself to not sob in public.

_ I’m always proud of you. _

The words from his brother ghosted in his mind. Jisung shakes his head repeatedly at the words in his head. His brother shouldn’t be proud of someone like him.

_ A failure. _

_ A disappointment. _

One of his biggest dreams was crashed into millions of pieces, too small to fix the damage. He failed his very first Grand Prix final, which was held in the Marseille, by landing on the 6th place. The last place in the entire competition. He completely embarrassed himself not only in front of his trainer and the audience, but also his long time idol.

Lee Minho. Five times world champion. Winning five Grand Prix consecutively.

The one who he has looked up to since he was eight years old. The one who inspired him to follow his figure skating dream. 

Jisung had the chance to present his skills, his passion, which he has built over the years from his hard training, in front of thousands of people but he completely screwed up his performance. He grips the smooth fabric of his pants tightly until his knuckles turn white. He’s angry. Angry at himself for failing, for letting such an opportunity slip out of his hands.

Suddenly, a big, warm hand squeezes his shoulder softly, bringing Jisung to raise up his head out of curiosity. His coach, the Canadian Caleb Parsons, stands in front of him, dressed in a royal blue, close-fitting tuxedo. The Caucasian man sends him an encouraging smile, but his eyes reflect the worry he has about the skater. 

“Don’t worry too much about it,” his coach says in a soothing, deep voice, “this is an achievement for a skater like you. There is always room for you to improve. I’m sure that with more practice, you’ll be in the finals of the next grand prix.”

Jisung nods his head slowly at his coach’s words, appreciating his attempt of cheering him up ― but his words don’t change his current mindset and they still fail to encourage him. Jisung is upset about his embarrassing performance of yesterday. He pulls down the sleeves of his black hoodie, wiping the tears from his eyes. 

His coach pats the top of his head a few more times before nodding his head in the direction of the exit, signalizing that they should board. A short sigh leaves Jisung’s lips before he wraps his headphones into a tangling mess and puts them into the pocket of his hoodie. He heaves himself from the plastic seat, slings his backpack over his shoulder and grasps the straps of his backpack tightly, the rough fabric rubbing against his palm.

As Jisung looks down to the ground, at his shoes, he notices how close to collapsing his wobbly legs are, but for some reason his feet don’t let it happen. Jisung lifts his head up, looking straight forward to the exit of the gate, while puffing out the air from his inflated cheeks. 

Hopefully, everything gets back to normal when he returns to Canada. Inwardly, Jisung prays to god that the skaters from his training camp don’t bother him with the whole thing about Grand Prix. And if they want to talk to him about it, he’ll pretend that he never attended this event in the first place. 

It’s the best for him to erase the memories, where he didn’t only humiliate himself in front of the spectators but also in front of his idol, while disappointing his coach and disgracing his family. 


	2. A Perfect Copy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I hope you and your closed ones are doing well during this pandemic. 
> 
> I decided to post finally the first chapter and I want to apologize in advanced for my grammar since I'm not a native speaker. Also, I apologize for this one long ass scene which consists mostly of describing what's happening, I hope it doesn't bore you. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the first chapter :)

_3 months later…_

Jisung lowers his cap down to his face. Not necessarily to protect his eyes from the rays of the shining sun outside but mainly to hide his face in case someone recognizes him. He lazily pulls his suitcase behind him, dipping his head down. Every time he accidentally brushes his shoulder improvidently against someone else’s, he mumbles a small ‘sorry’ and hears them curse at him for being so rude. 

“Jisung!” screams an all too familiar voice. He raises his head up and searches for the owner of the voice through his thin glasses. At the exit of the airport of Incheon, he spots his brother Mark, who’s waving with his arms vigorously in the air at Jisung to gain his attention. Jisung couldn’t help but giggle at his embarrassing antics. 

Mark notices that his younger brother has found him and lets his arms fall to the side, smiling brightly at him. Jisung grins at the sight of the widely opened arms of Mark. Letting go of his suitcase, he walks straight into the arms of his brother. The latter wraps his arms tightly around Jisung’s shoulders and presses him close to his body. Jisung accepts the warm hug by looping his arms around his torso, pressing his face on Mark’s shoulder, who places his chin on his shoulder.

Jisung closes his eyes, and enjoys the warmth spreading throughout his whole body during the brotherly hug. The last hug they shared was more than four years ago. Funnily enough, it was also at the airport, shortly before Jisung had to leave his family and his friends to catch his flight to Vancouver. The goodbye back then was a whole mess. Everyone, including Jisung, cried like the Han river at his departure. Yet the tears weren’t only spilled out of sadness, they were also tears of pride. Proud of Jisung, who’s following his dreams. 

His eyes swam with tears at those memories. They are soaking Mark’s flannel shirt beneath him, unintentionally clinging himself tighter on Mark. Even though Jisung lost the fight of holding back his tears, Mark tries to hold them back. He wants to be the tough and brave, older brother, who Jisung needs in this moment.

After a short while, Jisung removes his arms from Mark’s waist and takes a step back, eyeing his brother closely; he hasn’t changed at all since their last video call, which was a few days after this certain event in December (Jisung refuses to mention the name of this event). 

And now, it is March. Mark dyed his ash blonde hair back to his usual warm, hazelnut brown, which complimented his fair skin It makes him look younger than he really is. Jisung didn’t notice it during the hug, but to him it seems like as if Mark’s shoulders got broader. In general looks Mark’s body healthier.

“Welcome back in Korea, little brother,” grins Mark continuously, ignoring the pain in his cheeks from smiling too long. “I’m so happy to have you here again after a long time. You didn’t change at all. Your cheeks are still chubby.”

Jisung winces when Mark squishes and pinches his cheeks. After his brother stops to play with his cheeks, Jisung tilts his head askew and stretches his lips into a timid smile. “Well, damn, you really gained those muscles, didn’t you?”

Mark hums in response and flexes his biceps, ecliting a loud laugh from Jisung’s mouth.

  
  


He is truly happy to be here, reuniting with his family and friends after approximately five years. During his stay in Canada, he wasn’t able to visit his family in Korea because he didn’t have much money to buy the plane tickets. Most of the times, he phoned or did a video call with them. He even celebrated the traditional holidays with his family through video call, which upsetted him because he wanted to spend it with them so bad. A least he can catch it up in the next few years.

“Where is dad?” asks Jisung as he grabs his suitcase. 

Mark sighs. “He’s busy and has lots of things to do in the guest house, but he promised that we’re going to have a nice dinner together.”  
  


Jisung nods in understanding. “Oh, okay. I’m glad that everything goes well.”

“Yeah, me too. You have to see his smile whenever the new guests enter the guest house,” says Mark, a smile spreads on Jisung’s lips at the image appearing in his mind. “Anyways should we leave? I’m really hungry and I’m craving for dad’s dishes.”  
  


“Yeah, I’m also hungry as fuck”, says Jisung, rubbing with his palm over his growling stomach.

  
  


During the car ride, Jisung leans his head against the window and looks out of it, watching how the large buildings and busy people pass him by. Sometimes, he hums along to the songs which are played on the radio, but he sets his focus on Mark’s funny and adventurous stories. While Mark‘s telling him the stories, he often interrupts himself by laughing about it and Jiisung joins his laughter.

Everything is so normal. It seems like as if Jisung was gone for three days but definitely not three years.

Jisung doesn’t realize, that Mark already drives into the parking lot of their father’s guest house. There is exactly one spot empty which was probably reserved for Mark’s car and he eventually parks the car in the empty spot.

After Mark is done (and especially content) with pulling in the car, he turns the motor off and pulls the car key out of the ignition lock. They leave the car and while closes the door behind him, Jisung slams it accidentally, gaining a deathly glare from Mark. (“How often did I tell you to not slam the fucking door?” scolds him Mark, obviously irritated. Jisung whispers a ‘I’m sorry, it slipped out of my hand’ while rolling his eyes.)

As Mark jogs to the car boot to take Jisung’s suitcase out, Jisung decides to take a closer look of his surroundings. Nothing really changed since he left the guest house. A row of trees with blooming cherry blossoms, growing out of the fresh green grass behind the parking lot, cover the sight of the road. A few petals already found their way to the ground.

“Are you coming in?” asks Mark, holding Jisung’s suitcase by the handle, and grins at his little brother. Jisung responses with a nod before he squeezes himself out of the narrow gap between the cars.

As Jisung stands next to Mark, they walk towards the entrance of the guest house. Mark grabs for the golden door handle, pushing it down. The bell above the door jingles clearly as Mark swings the door open, both stepping into the lobby of the guest house. Jisung’s mouth curves into a smile as he breathes in the sweet, familiar aroma of pastries. 

“Hi dad,“ greets Mark his father who stands behind the reception table, eyes glued to the computer screen and fingers gliding on the keyboard. “I brought someone home.“

This sentence snaps their father to reality. His gaze switches from the screen to his sons and his lips curling up at the sight of his sons. The small, skinny man stands up from his chair and walks towards Jisung, greeting him with a big and warm embrace. 

“it‘s so nice to have you here, jisungie. i‘m so incredibly happy to see you in person again. i missed you so much,” whispers his father, his voice being shaky.

Jisung reciprocates his hug and puts, his chin on his father‘s narrow shoulder, giggling at the feeling of the soft fabric of his father‘s blue pullover beneath his chin. “I missed you too, dad.“

Mr. Han pulls his son out of the hug, while he holds him with his hands on his shoulder to scrutinize him. “You didn’t even changed a bit, except for your blond hair. They are brown now.”

“You still look younger than you actually are,” chuckles Jisung earning from his father a small slap on his upper arm for his comment while Mark receives a glare from him for laughing. 

“Watch out young man, I don’t think you want to get your salary shorten,” threatens Mr. Han Mark jokingly, his right pointer finger in the air. Mark stops laughing and puts his hands up in surrender in response.

“I’ll be quiet and nice. I really don’t want to ruin the soft and cute family reunion but I’m really hungry.” 

Mr. Han’s gaze darts down to his silver wristwatch. “It‘s currently 4:34 p.m. Sorry to disappoint you boys but dinner will not be ready before 6.30 p.m.“ 

Mark whines at the answer of their father. “I’m going to help the kitchen employees until dinner is ready.”

He lets go of the handle of Jisung’s suitcase, walks to the left side of the lobby, where the big dining hall is for the guests and disappears behind the wooden swinging door.

“I’m going to surprise Siyeon at the ice rink if you are okay with it.”

His father laughs lightly at Jisung’s indirect permission to visit his childhood friend. “Of course, I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you again. I’m going back to work. Don’t forget to send some greetings.”

Jisung gives him a gummy smile. “I’ll not, i promise.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


###

  
  
  
  
  
  


After a good fifteen minute walk through the streets of Incheon, Jisung stands in front of the ice rink, a few meters away from the glass doors. He takes a deep breath before he exhales the air and gazes at the ice rink; a smile spreads on his lips at the memories that cross his mind at the sight of the monstrous building. He walks towards the electronic glass doors, which glide to the side as soon as he nears the door.

As he enters the hallway, he looks around; the ivory tiles on the ground reflect the white, hanging neon lamps and the walls are as white as snow. At the walls are some light wooden benches and pictures of popular figure skaters decorate the plain wall. In the middle of the room is a long, almost never ending, corridor, which leads to the ice rink. On the right side, right in the corner, is a desk with a bright blue sign, where the word ‘Information’ is written in white on the signboard. 

On the left side stands a petite woman with long, black hair behind the desk, showing her back while bending down to sort the skates by their shoe sizes. 

“I’m sorry, we are going to close in a few minutes, but you can come tomorrow again,” says the woman, her light voice coated her annoyance with politeness. 

Jisung chuckles. “I hope you can make an exception for an old friend of yours.”

She turns around her heels in the speed of the light at sound of his voice. As she sees Jisung, her irritated facial expression vanishes, instead a wide smile spreads on her lips and her eyes sparkle in excitement.

“Jisung!” shouts the black haired girl excitedly, leaving her working desk, and runs towards into Jisung’s arms. Jisung laughs and loses his balance for a second due to her sudden hug, almost falling to the ground. 

“Woah, Siyeon, take it easy.” He circles his arms around her waist and hugs her back. 

Siyeon lets out of a sigh, she starts to grin at him. “I’m sorry, but I’m so so happy and glad to see you again after… What? Four or five years? Anyways, who cares but honestly I missed you so much I-”, jabbers Siyeon excitedly while gesturing wildly with her hands. 

“Wow, Siyeon breathe for a second okay?” interrupts Jisung her and places his hands on her shoulders, signaling her to calm her down. And she listens to him; she inhales deeply and exhales, trying to steady her heart, which beats harshly against her ribcage out of happiness.

“Okay, I calmed down. I’m just… thrilled to see you again since I missed you so much,” pouts Siyeon, brushing her shiny strand behind her small ear. “And also to answer your question: yes, I’m making an exception for you. Let’s go now!”

She grabs his wrist and pulls him behind her. Jisung trips over his own feet, almost falling down, but soon he’s found his balance and adapts his pace to Siyeon’s. 

When they arrive inside of the ice rink, both plump on the bench. Jisung puts his backpack on the foamed ground and opens it, grabbing for his skates. He lays them flat on the foamed ground before he removes his sneakers from his feet, shoving them under the bench, and slips into his black skates. 

“So, you in the Grand Prix, huh?” echoes her voice through the hall, the smirk impossible to overhear. 

Jisung stiffens at the mention of the competition, whispering afterwards in a low voice ‘I don’t really want to talk about it’ but still loud enough for Siyeon to hear it.

“Why?” asks she as stands up from the bench and paces towards Jisung, who’s staring absentmindedly at the rink. “You were skating on the same rink as your idol Lee _fucking_ Minho.”

“Yeah, it would’ve been a nice memory if I didn’t make a fool out of myself,” scoffs Jisung as he recalls the memory in his mind.

Siyeon knits her eyebrows at his statement, tilting her head to the side. “What the fuck are you talking about, Ji? You didn’t make a fool out of yourself.”

“Yes, I fucking did,” scowls Jisung, balling his hands into fists, hitting the metal rail. “I didn’t land so many of my stupid jumps, the juries probably couldn’t understand how a loser like me managed to participate at the grand prix.”

“You are not a los-”

“Yes, I am!” shouts Jisung In frustration, making Siyeon flinch. His sight gets blurry, tears threatening to roll down his cheeks. “I don’t even know if I want to continue to ice skate. I’m just an embarrassment.”

“Jisung, look at me,” demands Siyeon in a solemn voice. Surprisingly, Jisung turns around and faces Siyeon, who stares at him with a stern gaze. Her eyes, however, reflect the pain of Jisung degrading himself. “Don’t ever think that you are a loser, an embarrassment, a failure or something similar because you clearly aren’t one.

I know, you didn’t perform at the Grand Prix as you’ve imagined. You were nervous and I would be too if I were in your position. Just because you didn’t come to the finals, it doesn’t mean that you should stop. You didn’t fight for so long to come this far, you should come even farther. And I believe, from the bottom of my heart, that one day you’ll stand on the podium and you’ll wear the gold medal around your neck.”

A silence occurs. They stare at each other, neither of them says a word. 

Siyeon opens up her mouth to say something, but Jisung is faster. “You’re right.”

He lifts his glasses from his nose bridge and wipes gently the tears away from his cheeks with the back of his hand. Siyeon’s gaze softens at his words, looking at him with her big glistening eyes and a bright smile on her rosy lips. 

“That’s my fucking best friend. A man who is going to fulfill his biggest dream even if he needs to go through hell.”

She punches him playfully at his right upper arm, maybe a little bit too hard since he winces a small ‘ouch’ after her punch. The girl gasps in shock, rubs the spot where she punched him, and apologizes like a thousand times. Jisung chuckles at her action, embraces her hand and squeezing it lightly, assuring her that he’s alright.

“It’s okay, you can stop now,” says Jisung, and she listens to him, freeing her hand from his embrace and talking it away from his upper arm. “I was just joking, it didn’t hurt that much. I may look weak from the outside, but I have trained my muscles.”

She raises her eyebrows in disbelief, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Are you sure about that, Jiji?”

“I’m just gonna ignore what you just said. I want to show you something that I’ve learned during my stay in Vancouver. Can you connect your phone to the stereo and hold my glasses, please?” 

After Siyeon receives Jisung’s glasses, she bolts eagerly to the stereo equipment like a little child, who just spotted the ice cream truck on the street. In the meantime, Jisung waddles to the open door of the rail like a baby penguin, not wanting to trip and fall on his ass. 

As he stands securely with his skates on the ice, he starts to warm himself up by skating a few rounds. He closes his eyes and enjoys the sound smooth sound of the blades scraping on the ice as he glides to the left, then back to the right, all while moving forward. 

“Okay, my phone is plugged in,” shouts Siyeon from the stereo equipment, making his shut eyes open, “and what should I do now?”  
  


“Can you play Chopin’s Nocturne in C Sharp Minor?”

She nods her head at his request and types the piece on youtube, clicking on the first video that appears. Before she could even press the ‘play’ button, he adds something quickly. “Please don’t judge me for my performance.”

“I’ll not, I promise.”

Jisung glides to the middle of the ice rink and shuts his eyelids, putting his right foot more to the front with the toe picker in the ice. He places his right hand on his left shoulder while his left hand is gripping his right hip gently. As soon as the soft piano hits Jisung’s ears, he opens his eyes and his arms automatically flow to the sound of the piano, recreating the movements of the intro perfectly. 

He bends his knees and moves his body with easy strokes forward, gliding and spinning on the ice as if he’s been doing this his whole life. During all the gliding and spinning, he moves his arm gracefully in the air like a ballet dancer and every muscle under his skin is tensed, all the way down to the tips of his fingers. He switches the direction of his body and skates backwards on the ice, looking over his shoulder.

When the violin joins the piano, he prepares himself to launch into the quadruple Loop. He takes off from the outside edge of his right foot, rotates in the air and lands on the outside edge of the same foot, holding his arms up to keep the balance. 

The next jump is a quadruple Lutz. Jisung has to admit, he isn’t very confident in this jump and the chances of him landing the jump lays by 20% but he still has to try. He pivots to skate backwards. Then he burrows his right toe pick into the ice to launch into the jump. To his surprise, he manages to spin the needed amount rotations in the air and what’s even crazier is that he lands it. 

Afterwards, Jisung pushes himself forward with light strokes, bracing himself for the flying combination spin. Throwing himself in the air, he lands on his right blade and spins in the camel position, switching his footing to squat into a sit spin. The combination spin ends with an A-spin and he heads right into step sequence, a triple Flip following soon after. Jisung glides on the ice before he executes the first combination jump out of two, which involves a triple Axel and a triple Loop.

Until now, Jisung has landed every jump, in his humble opinion, pretty good. Honestly, his expectations of performing the routine well weren’t high, but he’s surprised that it goes so smooth. The only things, that worry him right now, are the two other quad jumps.

Speaking of quad jumps, the next jump is a quadruple Flip, another jump he couldn’t master fully. After he lands on the outside edge of his blade, he takes his arms down and skates on the ice in the flow of the music, waiting to jump the second combination jump which includes the last quad jump: a quadruple Salchow and a triple Toe Loop . 

He jumps the last two jumping elements which are a triple Lutz and a triple Salchow before he performs his personal highlight of the routine: the choreography sequence. Without thinking for a second, his body flows naturally to the music, mimicking every movement perfectly.

Jisung skates across the ice at a fast pace, switching from going forwards to backwards, while swirling his arms to the rhythm of the music. He slows down the tempo until he’s at the right side of the rink, tossing himself in the air to do the sit spin combo; he squats down, extends his free leg in front of him and twists his torso, stretching his arm in the air. 

Jisung stands up, glides towards the center and swings his right leg to build up momentum and spins in his own axis, leg stretched in the air and hands pressed behind his back. Bending the knee of his free leg, his back arches as he grabs his skate to pull near his head. Then he crouches, changing in the process his foot, and holds the ankle of his extended leg. Jisung finishes the combination by straightening his right leg so that he could stretch out his left leg to the side of his body while holding the skate blade.

As he decelerates his spin, he slowly puts his leg down but leaves his arm high in the air, raising his other arm and pressing them together. He cups his hands and lowers them, placing it on his chest while his eyes wistfully follow the movement of his hands. 

Jisung stands in the center of the rink, eyes closed. His chest is heaving rapidly, his heavy pants filling the silence in the rink and his heart beating harshly against his ribcage. The sweat trails down his back, soaking into his white shirt. When he opens his eyes, everything is blurry. He curses his bad eyesight for that. He can’t really see Siyeon’s reaction, but he can recognize how her hand covers her mouth. Slowly and unsure, he glides towards her.

“And?” asks Jisung her in slight anticipation, leaning up against the rail wall to gasp for air and wiping the warm trickling beads of sweat away from his forehead with the back of his hand, “how did i do?” She lowers her hand from her mouth, looking agape at Jisung. 

“You were amazing!” shrills Siyeon, hitting excitedly the rail with her palms which startles Jisung. “That was awesome, what the actually fuck? You learned Minho’s _advanced_ routine when you were in Vancouver? _Fucking_ advanced, Jisung! It’s an advanced routine! You… you landed all the jumps perfectly! Even Minho’s signature jump the quadruple Lutz! That was a perfect copy of Minho.”

A warm, fluttering feeling rushes into his heart when the compliments left her mouth. He gives her a tiny, yet sincere smile. “Thank you, Siyeon.”

“I… When did you learn it?”

“I started to learn the routine in Mid-November. After I came back from the grand prix, the first thing I’ve done was crawling in to my bed and pulled the blanket over my head and cried into my pillow. My roommate Felix often came on my bed to comfort me, which I really appreciated, but I was too downhearted from my failure at the Grand Prix.

One night some memories popped up in my mind. I remembered when we were kids how always we were at your place to watch the replays of ice skating competitions and gasped in astonishment whenever they performed their routine, especially when we watched the junior Grand Prix because of Lee Minho. Do you remember how we tried to copy his routines together? You always encouraged me after I got angry and frustrated because I didn’t land a jump.

And so I started to learn his program...

Because I wanted to love figure skating again.”

Siyeon stares fondly at him with her glassy eyes, her heart deeply touched by his explanation, stretching her lips into a soft smile.

“Jisung oppa, that was amazing!”

When Siyeon has heard those words, her facial expression shifts in an instant at the sound of the familiar voice; her eyebrows snap together, her lips are pressed in to a thin line and her left eye starts to twitch. 

“Thank you, Sooyeon.” Sooyeon, Siyeon’s younger sister, runs towards him to give him a big hug, which he returns. “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine as always! I’m happy you’re back in Korea! Did you finally find a girlfriend?”  
  


The last question catches him off guard. A bewildered chuckle leaves his mouth, ignoring her question. “Me, too. I missed you all so much. I’m glad to know that you all are feeling well.” 

“You can be honest with me… Did you gain a bit weight?”

“Ya! Park Sooyeon I’m going to kill you,” threatens Siyeon her little sister through her gritted teeth. Before she could grab her sister’s hood, Sooyeon scurries behind Jisung’s back, using him as a shield to protect herself from the attack.

In the middle of this happening, Jisung stands rooted to the ground, his eyes follow unintentionally the rather amusing scenario between the two sisters.

“Okay, can you both quit acting like children?”

“Tell this to Siyeon. I can behave like that, I’m literally a child.”

Siyeon bristles with anger, her knuckles turning white as she clenched them into fists. “Once we are home, I will twist your neck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked the chapter, feel free to leave a comment or/and a kuddo! :)
> 
> Don't forget to wash your hands and stay as much as you can inside! Take good care of yourselves and stay healthy :)


	3. Unexpected Twists & Turns

“Hyunjin! Jeongin!” Jisung says with a wide smile as he enters the guest house, running towards his best friends. They interrupt their chat and turn their heads in Jisung’s direction, their faces beam at the sight of the brunette. Jisung grips their arms to pull them into a group hug, putting his arms around their shoulders and his friends retort the hug by wrapping one of their arms around his waist. 

“I missed you guys so much.”

“We missed you too,” replies Jeongin in a low voice. In this moment, the arms on his waist squeezed a fraction tighter and Jisung snuggles more into the warm and welcoming embrace, feeling like a little flower which waited during the cold winter to blossom brightly during the spring days. 

“How’s life going?” asks Jisung curiously after they all pull away from the hug, his arm still draped around Jeongin’s shoulders.

“Good.” Hyunjin answers after exhaling a long breath and places his hands nonchalantly on his hips. “I mean, we train almost the whole day to prepare ourselves for the World League.”

“It’s _so_ exhausting but the team spirit got stronger,” adds Jeongin, drawing out the word ‘so’, “oh and also, my jump serve improved so much. You can even ask Jinnie hyung.”

Hyunjin nods his head in confirmation, ruffling amiably Jeongin’s hair, who sends a deathly glare in his direction. He removes his hand from his soft brown hair and Jeongin shakes his head like a wet puppy trying to remove the water from his fur. Running with his fingertips through his bangs, he tries to put them back in place.

“I’m pretty sure my jump serve is better than yours,” provokes Jeongin as he nudges his elbow teasingly against Hyunjin’s side.

Hyunjin huffs, aghast. “No, it isn’t.” 

“Yes it is. You’re jealous that I learned it faster than you.”

“I’m not jea-”

“Okay, I think we stop this discussion now,” interjects Jisung the brawlers. “Geez... Even after coming back to Korea, you two didn’t even change a bit.”

“It would be boring if we changed while you were gone, wouldn’t it?” Hyunjin winks mischievously at the young figure skater. “Anyways how is your life now, Jisung? Do you feel better since…you know... the certain event?”

Jisung’s mouth curved into a timid smile. He appreciates how Hyunjin attempts to not mention the words Grand Prix in order to avoid bringing back the memories. “I’m…. doing fine, you don’t need to worry about me,” replies Jisung shyly, rubbing his nape in embarrassment, “I feel much better now.”

“I’m happy for you, Jisung hyung.” 

“Me, too,” agrees Hyunjin, “I’m proud of you for not letting tear you down.”

Jisung sends them a thankful gaze. 

“Where were you before?” asks Jeongin him.

“I visited Siyeon at the ice rink,” answers Jisung. He chews on his bottom lip, debating with himself if he should add the next sentence. At the end, he decides to do so. “And I showed her something.”

Hyunjin’s eyebrows rise a notch, not only in surprise but also confusion. “What did you show her?”

“I showed her the current free skate routine Lee Minho.”

Jeongin’s eyes bulge, mouth gaping open. “Hyung, aren’t his routines hard to skate?”

“Yes, they are.” Jisung chuckles when he’s noticed how Jeongin’s eyes almost popping out of his head. 

Hyunjin opens his mouth to say something, but closes it once Jisung’s dad appears in front of them to announce that the dinner is ready.

After they have eaten up the delicious, home cooked dinner, Mr. Han leaves the table and provides the dishes in the kitchen sink, Mark and Jisung helping their dad out by cleaning the dishes. Hyunjin and Jeongin offer the family to help them, which they declined. The volleyball players ignore it yet and help them even though the brothers have threatened to throw the dirty plates at them if they dare to step on the kitchen floor. Despite the threat, Hyunjin and Jeongin go inside the room. 

When they finish cleaning the kitchen, Hyunjin and Jeongin give Mr. Han and Mark a warm, long goodbye hug, waving at them before they leave the dining room with Jisung, who accompanies them to the entrance door of the guest house. His friends bid him goodbye through a hug as as well, wishing each other a good night.

Once his friends left the building, Jisung roams back to the living room, plumping next to his brother on the soft couch. Mr. Han ambles calmly to his beloved and comfortable armchair, near to the bookshelf and located a few meters away from the couch. The father grabs after the book with the baby blue cover, lying on the small, wooden table, which is placed to his right and opens it. He flips slowly through the pages, while skimming the paragraphs.

A cozy atmosphere lurks in the air, guided by the ticking pendulum clock in the background. 

“Are you planning to participate in any competition this year, sungie?” Mr. Han interrupts the comfortable silence in the living room, looking up from his book and staring directly into Jisung’s tired eyes.

Jisung shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t know yet. I didn’t think that far in the future. I came here to clear my mind.”

“Clear your mind from what?” asks Mark, eyeing him from the side. 

“From all the negative thoughts I’ve gotten after the Grand Prix.”

Mark sends him a pitiful look and lays his big hand on his little brother’s shoulder, squeezing it gently to comfort him. “Everything is going to be alright, okay?”  
  


Jisung hums, a sad tone accompanying his voice, and nods his head. 

“Just take your time, Sungie. Your body and spirit will know when you’re ready,” advices his Dad, whose chocolate brown eyes are carefully following every sentence. 

“Dad is right, Sung. Don’t pressure yourself too much. We, Dad, your friends and I, are always here for you and we will always support you. ”

Jisung whispers a quick ‘thank you’ for giving him courage. He heaves himself up from the couch to stretch his numb limbs. After the mini stretch session, he announces that he goes to bed, worn out from the long flight and especially from showing Siyeon Minho’s routine. He wishes them a good night and steps then out of the living room. 

Arriving in his bedroom, Jisung closes the door behind him and drags his feet to his bed, letting himself fall backwards onto the soft mattress. He stretches his arm out, tapping with his hand on the mattress to find his pillow. As he feels the smooth fabric of the pillowcase beneath his skin, he grabs it and shoves it under his head, staring blankly at the plain, white ceiling. It is quiet in his room. The only sound he hears, is his own steady breathing.

He had never thought that he’ll get so much support and encouragement from his family and friends after his terrible performance at the Grand Prix, but it is something that real family and friends would do. In a split second, his thought slips to the question of his father, which he asked a few minutes ago. Is he going to participate again? He’s ambivalent about it; on one hand, he can show the spectators and the others how much he grew from last time but on the other hand, he’s too scared and anxious that he’ll mess up again. 

Thinking about the pitiful applaud of the spectators back then in the ice rink in **_Moscow_ ** makes him nauseous and sad. Sad because probably everyone there wondered how he, Han Jisung, got to attend there and this only thanks to the figure skating legend Lee Minho.

The irritating buzzing of his phone interjects him from his line of thoughts. He snorts loudly before he fishes his electronic device from his jeans pocket. His phone screen lights up and shows that he’s received a new message from Siyeon. He unlocks his phone, opens his message app and taps on the chat from Siyeon and him. 

In her message is a link to a YouTube video. Unfortunately, there isn’t a thumbnail of the video but nevertheless he clicks on the link. The link opens up on the YouTube app, he reads the title of the video while waiting for the video to start. His mouth falls wide open while his phone slips from his fingers and lands on his face, wincing from the sudden pain. 

Jisung takes his phone in his hand and rereads the title, just in case his eyes were playing some mind tricks with him. But to his bed, the words his eyes are projecting into his brain are still the same. 

_Han Jisung skating to Lee Minho’s free skate ‘Nocturne in C sharp minor’_

Jisung turns his phone off and tosses it in the corner of his bed before the video even played. He straightens himself, pulls his legs close to his chest and presses his face against his knees. His lungs tighten from the unpredictable rush of panic, giving him a hard time to breathe properly.

This is bad. _Really_ bad.

He’s so fucked. If this video is going viral, everyone will say how he could have time to learn and perform Minho’s routine instead of putting effort in his own performance. Then he has to deal with those negative thoughts again and he wants to avert this. He doesn’t want to go through this again. Once was already enough, he doesn’t know if he could go through this a second time. 

_But what should he do?_

  
  


###

  
  
  


“Catch me if you can!”

“Fuck you, Jisung!”

“Language, Siyeon-ssi.”

Siyeon desperately chases after Jisung, who’s skating at a fast pace on the ice, his mischievous laugh echoes around the ice rink. During the hunt, Jisung throws a few times a fleeting glance over his shoulder to control the distance between Siyeon and him. The black haired girl struggles to keep up his speed and decides to give up, stopping in the center of the rink. 

“Okay Jisung, you won I give up,” shouts siyeon while cupping her small, delicate hands around her mouth. The girl lays her shaky hands on thighs, using her arms as, and gasps for air; the pounding in her chest is slowly retreating and fresh oxygen finds its way to her lungs.

As Jisung hears her words, he quickly changes direction, glides nonchalantly to Siyeon and hockey stops a few centimeters in front of her. 

“We both know that I’m just the best,” teases Jisung her and mocks her by patting softly on her head. The girl looks up to him, brushes her hair behind her ears and glares deathly at him. 

“You have a better stamina than me, asshole.”

“These are only excuses.”

“Fuck you.”

She straightens her back and stretches her arms high up in the air, pressing her pink lips together. This is a motion Jisung knows all too well. Whenever Siyeon wants to say that is very embarrassing to her, she sets her mouth into a hard line.

“I’m so sorry that my sister filmed it and uploaded it on YouTube. If I would have known that I would have hindered her.”

Oh yeah

The video of him skating to Lee Minho’s free skate routine. 

Jisung doesn’t want to say that he hasn’t left his room until Siyeon dragged him out today to distract him from this incident but that’s exactly what he wants to say. He hasn’t turned on his phone until today since he wants to avert to read the responses he received to not become anxious and petrified. He turned off his push up notifications for every Social Media platform he’s downloaded on his phone. 

He’s seen many positive comments that complimented him and his skills but one comment is marked in his brain: _How did he have time to train for this and execute it perfectly but still failed in the competition?_

This is a valid question but he hasn’t a reasonable answer. 

Jisung exhales a long breath. “It’s okay. And I mean as long as Minho doesn’t see it then I’m fine with it.”

“But it is still unacceptable.”

“You are right but at the end of the day there’s nothing you or I could. It’s already on the internet and it’s gonna stay there forever. Like I said as long as Lee Minho didn’t see it, I’m fine. I mean, it’s not as if he’s coming extra to Incheon to meet me or some shit.”

“Okay,” mumbles Siyeon softly, forcing a smile.

Jisung sends her a fond smile and wraps his arm around her shoulder, giving it a light squeeze to reassure her that he isn’t upset. 

“Anyway, what are your plans for today?” changes Jisung the topic as he skates to Siyeon’s left. Together, they glide towards the exit in a comfortable tempo so that they could hold a conversion.

“Nothing interesting. My dad told me to clean up a little bit since some important people are going to come here. How about you?”

“My dad said that Jongin hyung and Jennie noona, his fiancée, are going to visit us because Jongin hyung wants to see me again since they were in Busan when I’d arrived and yesterday, they came back in Incheon.”

Siyeon hums in response.

“Do you know who those important people are?” Jisung asks, frowning as he tilts his head, confused about Siyeon’s previous statement. 

“Nope,” responds Siyeon, popping the ‘p’ while shrugging her shoulders, “my dad didn’t want to tell me who these people are. Probably some businessmen.”

Jisung pouts, a bit disappointed that Siyeon’s dad makes the whole thing so secretive. “What a shame. I thought that some famous figure skater will come.” 

Jisung gazes at the clock above the entrance. It’s 5.15 p.m. “I have to go. Mark hyung picks me up from the ice rink.”

“Okay, send them greetings from me,” says Siyeon before waving him a small goodbye, “and don’t forget to wear your mask. The pollution now should be higher now than a few hours ago.”

“I will. Bye Siyeon, see you soon!”

As Jisung leaves the ice rink, he unties the laces of his skates, slips out and grabs them, jogging nonchalantly to the bench, where his backpack is located. He puts the dark blue blade guards on his skates, providing them in his backpack. The boy slips in to his denim jacket and throws his backpack over his shoulder, waving quickly at Siyeon before he leaves the building.

Outside, he takes his mask out of his pocket and fixes it around his ears, pulling the blue fabric over his mouth and nose. He takes his phone ou, opens the messages app and texts his brother.

JISUNG 5:23 P.M

_hey where u at?_

MARK 5:23 P.M

_parking lot_

After he read his brother’s message, he looks up from his phone, his squinched eyes wandering around the almost empty parking lot. Not even a second later, Jisung spots Mark’s car, a black VW Polo. The afore mentioned man scrolls bored through his phone, sitting behind the steering wheel and leaning against the seat. 

“Hi, Mark hyung,” greets Jisung the elder one, after getting into the car, buckling his seat belt and pulling his mask down to his neck.

“Hi Sung. Had fun with Siyeon?”

“Yeah, I did have fun. Are Jennie noona and Jongin hyung already there?” Jisung asks as he watches how his brother driving out of the parking lot.

“Yeah, they arrived like ten minutes ago. Jongin said he’s happy to see you again after all those years and Jennie is excited to finally meet you.”

“I’m also excited to see them.”

  
  
  
  
  


Arriving at the front door of the guest house, Jisung and Mark pull their masks down to their neck. Jisung pushes the door open and the bell above the door jingles as they enter the guest house, walking towards their apartment. At the same time, they greet the workers with a quick bow whenever they pass them by.

The voices from the living room engulfed the silence in the apartment. Once they enter the living room, they see Mr. Han sitting on his armchair, as always, leaning against it while holding a cup of tea in his hand, the steam rising up in the air. On the couch he finds Jongin and Jennie, both holding a cup in their hands as well, listening attentive his story, nodding their heads in between. 

“Look who I brought here,” announces Mark.

The three adults fall silent and turn their heads in the direction, where the brothers are standing. 

“Jisung!” exclaims Jongin in delight as he stands up from the couch, walking towards him to give him his famous bear hug. Jennie, who’s right behind her fiancé, waits a short moment before she hugs him, as well.

“How are you? How was Vancouver?” asks Jongin while he’s heading back to the couch along with Jennie and Jisung. They settle themselves down on the furniture and Jongin brings the tea cup to his lips to take a small sip from the warm liquid.

“I’m doing good. I really enjoyed it there,” responses Jisung, cracking his knuckles out of nervousness. “It was such an incredible experience for me and I really learned a lot during my stay in Vancouver, not only about figure skating. There were a lot of diverse people but they were very kind.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” Jennie beams, her adorable cheeks lifting up as her lips stretch into a wide smile while thrumming with her fingernails against the cup. 

“We saw your performance on the TV.”

“Oh god, no,” whines Jisung, hiding his face in his hands as his cheeks flush in embarrassment.

He doesn’t know why he’s even surprised. It is obvious that Jongin would watch it. Eventually, Jongin is his ballet teacher since he was a young munchkin. Actually, it was first Jongin’s father, one of the best ballet teachers across the country, who taught him everything, from the steps to the execuaction. Once, he passed away, Jongin has decided to follow in his father’s footsteps; he has become the owner of the studio and gives now dance lessons for children. 

But still, Jongin was there for him since his very first ballet lesson and since then he accompanied him through his life until he left Korea at the age of 18 to do his University degree in Vancouver (and also to figure skate.) Words couldn’t describe how grateful he is that he had gained so much support.

“It wasn’t even that bad, Jisung,” comforts Jongin him, wrapping his arm around Jisung’s shoulders and rubbing the side of his upper arm, which snaps JIsung back into reality. “You did well.”

“I completely messed up.”

“Jisung?”

Jisung lifts his head from his head and looks at Jennie, whose facial expressions softens after noticing the vulnerability in his eyes. “It‘s okay. Don’t live in the past anymore. Learn from it instead. See it as a motivation to work even harder. We know that you can do it.“

Jisung draws his bottom lip between his teeth, and nods. He knows that Jennie is right. He knows that everything Jennie just said is true. Yet, he can’t get rid of this bubbling guilt in his stomach. It’s just… he could have done it so much better. He could have shown the audience a better performance.

Suddenly, his phone in his pocket vibrates violently against his thigh. He fishes his phone out, pressing the home button and frowning at the messages popping up on his screen.

SIYEON 6:05 P.M

_JSJKSJ_

_I CAN’T FUCKING BELIEVE THIS_

_YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT JUST HAPPENED_

_PLS COME ONLINE_

Jisung decides to mute his phone off and provides it back in his pocket. ‘Something funny probably happened, which is maybe half as funny as she thinks it is,’ thinks Jisung, ‘but I’ll read her messages later.’

  
  
  
  


###

  
  
  
  
  


As night falls the blue haze of day lift to reveal the stars, shining brighter than ever, decides the Kim couple to head back home and get accompanied by the Han family to the front door, having their last small chat. After they stopped in front of the door, the couple turns around and sharing goodbye hugs. When Jongin is hugging Jisung, he rubs his back gently and whispers in his ear. “If you ever need help, you know where you can find me.” 

Jisung thanks him before he completely pulls away from the hug. Jongin stretches his lips into a wide smile, which Jisung retorts. 

“Goodbye. It was a pleasure to spend some time with you all. I hope we will see or hear each other soon again and I wish you good night,” says Jennie before the couple opens the door and leaves the guest house, grabbing each other hands and intertwining their fingers. 

“We hope so too! We also wish you a good night and arrive safely home.” Mr. Han says before he closes the door.

“Is there still any task to be done?” asks Mark before he yawns and stretches his arms.

“Can you check if the room 4 is clean and ready to check in?”

“Mark nods and climbs upstairs after Mr. Han hands him out the master key. 

Jisung remembers that he has to read Siyeon’s messages. So he pulls his phone out of his pocket and presses the button on the side, waiting until his phone switches on. As his phone is turned on, he’s raising his eyebrows in surprise as soons as he sees his notification center.

**_SIYEON_ **

_missed calls (4)_

_text messages (11)_

SIYEON 6:06 P.M

_JISUNG_

_JISUNG_

_HELP_

_HELLOOOO??_

_??_

SIYEON 6:38 P.M

_HAN JISUNG!_

_!!_

SIYEON 7:14 P.M

_IM DYING HERE_

_PLS COME ONLINE_

_IF I DIE RN I’LL NOT INVITE YOU TO MY FUNERAL YOU BITCH_

JISUNG 8:02 P.M

_what’s wrong?_

SIYEON 8:02 P.M

_thank god you’re alive!!_

_anyways_

_LEE FUCKING MINHO_

_VISITED US AT THE ICE RINK_

JISUNG 8:03 P.M

_WHAT?_

_HUH_

_ARE YOU FOR REAL_

SIYEON 8:03 P.M

_yeah!!!_

_jisung im so shocked_

_minho is so handsome wtf_

_truly a visual omg_

Jisung just wanted to reply to her message, but a gentle tap on his shoulder causes him to turn on his heels. He looks up from his phone and in front of him stands a brown-haired man who wears a face mask. As the stranger gazes at him through his long lashes, Jisung couldn’t break the eye contact. The brown eyes of the strangers shimmer underneath the dim light, drawing him into his spell. These pair of eyes seem so familiar, but he couldn’t assign them to a face.

“Excuse me, are you Han Jisung-ssi?” asks the stranger him with a muffled, yet mellifluous voice. Why does his voice sound so oddly familiar to Jisung?

Jisung gulps, nodding as he cocks his head to the side. “Uh, yeah, that’s me.”

“I’m―”, the man interjects himself by pulling his face mask of his face, revealing his face, “Lee Minho. I assume that you already know me.”

Jisung’s jaw drops to the down to the ground. Jisung opens and closes his mouth, not being able to form a sentence. His heart beats harshly against his ribcage, he could feel the beats in his throat. “Yeah, I-I am… I mean I do… I don’t want to sound rude but what are you doing here?”

Minho’s lips quirk upwards in a joyous smile when the question drops into the round. “Starting today, I’m your coach. I will help you to win in the Grand Prix Final.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> So Minho finally made his appearance! Let's see how Jisung's going to react :)
> 
> I finally managed to get my shit together to edit the second chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it :) Some of you pointed out that the plot (so far) ressembles the one of Yuri On Ice and I indeed got my inspiration from the anime. I actually wrote it in the tag section but for some reason it didn't accept it lol. Of course, the plot won't be the exact same because I don't want it to be too predictable but I'm gonna do some things similar.
> 
> Feel free to leave kudos and/or comments !! :)


	4. A free ride on the rollercoaster of panic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, it's me, ya girl!
> 
> I hope you all had a nice week and are healthy and doing fine :) I complete forgot that to do that in the previous chapter but I want to thank you for the kudos and comments! They really made me happy and motivate me to write even more :) 
> 
> Before you read it, here's a TRIGGER WARNING: there's a brief mention of weight loss. It's in the sentence right before the second '###' appears. That's all. I hope you'll enjoy the chapter! :)

Jisung’s heart skips a beat. His face gets washed blank with confusion, his pupils dilate as he stares at Minho in disbelief. The cogs in his brain couldn’t turn fast enough to take in the information from his wide eyes. Minho’s mouth sets in a hard line and therfore fails to hold back a suppressed chuckle at the look of Jisung’s cute look on his face.

“Uhm… I have to do something quickly. I’ll be right back.” Jisung excuses himself, stepping slowly backwards. When he bumps against the edge of the reception desk, he couldn’t hold back a whimper at the sudden pain shooting up in his thigh.

Minho opens his mouth to say something but shuts it quickly when he observes Jisung running into the apartment, leaving him, confused, behind in the lobby.

Once Jisung arrives in his bedroom, he slams the door close and presses his back against the cold surface, locking the door in one hand turn. He shuts his eyes and releases a long, shaky breath. Many questions are running through his head.

How did Minho find him? How does he know him? Why does Minho to train _him_ , Han Jisung?

Of course, it’s one of Jisung’s biggest dreams to figure skate with Lee Minho. I mean… who wouldn’t skate with _the_ legendary Lee Minho?

But there’s something that overshadows his longing wish. Fear.

Jisung is scared. Scared of embarrassing himself in front of him, again. Scared that all the effort and time he put in for him was a waste of his life time. He bangs his head frustrated once, twice, three times against the door before he rests his forehead on the cold wooden surface. Suddenly, he hears someone knocking at his door.

“Sung? Is everything alright?” asks Mark, his voice muffled since he’s standing behind the door.

Jisung takes a deep breath. “Yes, everything’s perfect.”

An awkward silence settles in the air.

“Okay if you say so. I’m in the living room if you need me.”

Jisung, though, doesn’t answer. Instead, he waits patiently until Mark leaves and then he turns around, gliding down with his back to the ground. He circles his arms around his legs and pulls them close to his chest only to lay his face between his knees to scream a ‘OH MY FUCKING GOD’.

  
  
  
  


During his twenty one year stay on this planet, he’s been often in a quandary but none of those past situations were as bad as this one. It’s graver than when him, Hyunjin and Jeongin accidentally scratched Mark’s car. It’s graver than him deciding if he should leave everything behind for a longer time to fulfill his dream. 

Jisung stands up from the ground and walks towards his bookshelf where many of his memories, in form of pictures, are located. He grabs one of them, the silver frame glistening underneath the light. His thumb swipes over the picture his mom snapped of him and Siyeon at the ice rink when they were children. 

_“Yeon, look at this!”_

_The nine year old girl turned around and watched how proudly Jisung pivoted on his blades. After three slow pirouettes, he stopped to pose with a gummy smile._

_“Sung, this was amazing!” exclaims Siyeon, applauding ecastically._

_His chest puffed up as he felt how his heart swelled with pride. It took a lot of courage and training for Jisung to execute them so he felt even happier when Siyeon complimented him. He knew Siyeon for almost two years. They met when Jisung entered the first grade. Siyeon was the first student who approached him. Although he barely spoke to her in the beginning, she never left his side. But once he started to talk, they became friends, which Siyeon surprised but was still excited._

_Siyeon tapped gently on his shoulder. “I also learned something.”_

_He gaped at her when she lifted her left leg to grab her ankle only to pull it closer to her head. Her leg wasn’t completely straight but Jisung was still impressed._

_“I don’t look as beautiful as Kim Yuna but I will when I continue to work on it,” Siyeon let go of her ankle, placing her feet on the ice._

_“Can you do it with your other leg as well?”_

_She nodded and demonstrated it quickly._

_“Wow, Siyeon, that’s so cool!”_ _  
  
_

_Siyeon blushes and rubbed her nape as she smiled sheepishly. “It’s not that cool.”_

_“I don’t care! For me, that was very cool.”_

Jisung stretches his lips into a small smile at the memory. Siyeon has been, aside from his family, since they were seven years old his number one supporter. It doesn’t matter what event it was Siyeon always supported him even if she wasn’t physically there.

Unfortunately, Jisung can’t say the same thing about him. Of course, he has supported her as much as he could yet not as good as Siyeon. Although Siyeon reassures she is still happy that he tries his best, his stomach makes an uncomfortable flip in guilt. 

He sighs when he puts the framed picture back to his spot and sits then on the edge of his bed. He turns his head to the wall where he hung up some posters of Minho. For some reasons, Jisung hasn’t removed them from his wall and he doesn’t know why. It’s stupid because it seems like as if he’s attached to them since they are on this wall since five years.

Funnily enough, he can now stop looking at those posters now that Minho is here. Jisung snorts at his own thought before he falls back on his bed. He doesn’t know what he should do. Going to his room to apologize is definitely out of question. Since there isn’t a clever option popping into his head, he will do what he always does when he can’t find a solution: Sleep.

###

  
  


The sun spreads its rays in the cloudless sky, the birds chirp their traditional song while sitting on the branches. In this early morning hours, Jisung stands in front of the room 4. He purses his lips and stares absentmindedly at the number, musing if he should knock on the door. He isn’t sure if the figure skater is even awake. What if he is still asleep? What if he doesn’t want to be disturbed and just wants to have a nice and calm morning by himself? 

Before Jisung could make decision, the door opens up and in front of him stands Minho in all of his glory, surprised about Jisung’s visit. He didn’t expect that the young figure skater will show his face ever again after he had left him confused in the lobby in panic. 

Nevertheless, Minho isn’t an arrogant prick, who treats people wrong because of his status. He greets Jisung with a radiant smile, brighter than the shines of the sun outside. “Good morning, Jisung.”

“Good morning, Minho-ssi. Uhm... I’m-I’m sorry for… uhhh… for disturbing you but I thought it would maybe good if we talk about the whole ‘you being my coach’ thing. I mean, of course, we don’t have to do now since you probably want to―”

Jisung trails off when Minho places his hands on his shoulders, his body stiffens at Minho’s gesture. “Woah, Jisung, calm down it’s 8 o’clock in the morning. First of all, you can call me Minho hyung. Second, let’s have a breakfast first and then we will discuss about it, okay?”

Jisung nods in agreement. His muscles are still rigid even after Minho removes his hands from his shoulders. Internally, he pats himself on his shoulder for not running away like yesterday. Plus, he had the courage to hold a proper conversation although he had stutter and babble out of nervousness, but approaching to him was a huge step for Jisung. 

Minho halts in the middle of the hallway and throws a gaze over his shoulder, noticing that Jisung is still standing, perplexed, at the same spot since the beginning. He can’t help himself but giggle at Jisung’s unintentional cuteness. “Are you coming?”

  
  
  
  
  


The last corns of his morning rice find their way down to his stomach. He places his chopsticks back in the bowl, grabs the white napkin from the and wipes with the fabric the leftovers from his mouth away, laying it back on the table after using it. He places his elbow on the table, resting his chin on his palm, laying his eyes on the man who’s sitting across him.

Isn’t it kind of _weird_ and _rude_ to stare at someone while they’re still eating?

Even though it seems like that Minho doesn’t notice that the younger one is observing him, Jisung yet chooses to take a look of the dining room (it’s not like that he’s ever been here since he already lives here and knows where the objects originally belong to.) The vexatious silence in this room gives Jisung a queasy feeling and the ticking pendulum clock in the background doesn’t make it better, it’s rather the opposite. 

The faster Minho empties his plates, the tighter gets the tied, painful knot in Jisung’s stomach. He isn’t ready for the conversation since he can’t imagine how Minho’s going to act. Will he be laid-back? Or serious? Or ridicule him?

Jisung turns his heads back to Minho as he hears the clinking sound of the dishes, signalizing that he has finished his breakfast.

“Thank you for the breakfast, Jisung. It was delicious.”

“No big! I hope, you had food.”

“Yes, more than enough.” Minho pats on his stomach a few times, shooting the young figure skater a dazzling smile. “I noticed how you enjoy to eat a lot of food.”

Jisung laughs awkwardly, rubbing the back of his nape. “Yeah, kind of. I enjoy it the most after winning something, but unfortunately I gain weight easily.”

“I see,” mumbles Minho, nodding in understanding before he startles Jisung with a loud clap. “Why did you eat tons of unhealthy food, even though you didn’t win anything?”

Perplexed, Jisung goggles agape at the man who sits across him, his brain trying to register the words that had just left Minho’s mouth. Did he got dissed by his own idol _and_ coach? 

“Also, I’m not gonna let you figure skate until you shed pounds.”

  
  


###

  
  


“WAIT A FUCKING MINUTE,” screams Siyeon as she stops in the middle of the rink, drawing the attention of the visitors on them. “SO THE RUMORS ARE TRUE?”

Jisung shushes her down by covering her mouth, and ignores skillfully her notorious death glare, which she lays on him whenever he’s trying to keep her voice down. Siyeon grasps his hand and wrenches it down from her mouth after she sees the visitors go back to do their own thing, minding their own business. 

Siyeon becomes always very loud when she hears about exciting or shocking news, a habit which is kind of adorable, depending on the occasion, but rather stressful and bit, just a tiny bit, annoying. When they were children, Siyeon purposely, even though she doesn’t want to admit this till this day, left the ice, so that Jisung had enough space to train his jumps and performances. Outside the ice, she encouraged him as much as she could and shouted in excitement when he landed a jump gorgeously.

“Yes, the rumors are true. Also can you keep your voice a bit down?” begs Jisung her in a low voice, moving his body on the ice with easy strokes, and Siyeon follows him right away.

“And you decided to not tell me this? Your _best_ friend? I’m offended.” Siyeon whines, pouting while she’s crossing her arms in front of her chest like an upset child who didn’t get the toy they have wished for.

“He entered in our guesthouse yesterday at ass o’clock in the evening. He didn’t send me a letter or an E-Mail beforehand. He walked casually towards me and announced being my coach as if this was the most normal thing to say.”

“How did you react?” The two friends take long strokes, one foot after the other, heading towards the exit of the ice rink. After they step off the ice, Siyeon places her hand on Jisung’s shoulder to support herself while slipping her skate guards back onto her blades, Jisung mimicking her.

“I reacted how Han Jisung normally would react,” starts Jisung, going down on one knee to untie his laces once Siyeon has removed her hand from his shoulder. “I panicked and ran into my room.”

At this moment, Jisung regrets raising his head to see his best friend’s reaction, because she gapes at him in disbelief, her eyes widened and her mouth slightly open before she shuts it again. “Please… Say sike. Tell me that you’re joking.”

“I was shocked and didn’t expect that, okay?” Jisung immediately shifts into justification mode. “And also don’t pretend that you wouldn’t have reacted the same way if this was Hwang Yeji instead.”

_Maybe even worse,_ added Jisung in his thoughts.

Siyeon always thinks she wouldn’t be nervous when she had to do something big or a big event happens but the nearer this thing got, the more nervous she became.

One time in high school, the poor girl had to hold a presentation about the future consequences if the bees would extinct. She couldn’t stop shaking like a leaf, she drank a gallon, that’s what it felt like to Jisung at that time, water to calm her nerve system down. The words died down in her throat when her presentation started.

Then he remembers she’s encountered Minho yesterday in the evening. _How did she behave when she saw him?_ wonders Jisung as he settles himself on the bench, slipping out of his skates to put them into his backpack.

“You have a point there,” Siyeon says with a playful eye roll and sits next to him as she folds her legs, interrupting his trail of thoughts. “But how do you feel about this whole thing? Isn’t this a dream? To have Minho as your coach?”  
  


“Yeah, it is,” answers Jisung truthfully as he rakes through his hair with his fingers, a frustrating sigh following right after. “I still think I’m in a wrong movie but well it’s reality. Everything is so overwhelming. I don’t know what to do.”

Siyeon scoots over to Jisung and drapes her arm loosely around his shoulders, sending him a soft gaze.“As your long-life friend, I can give you this advice: Do what you always do when you feel stressed out.”

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but it takes him only a few seconds to light up the light bulb in his brain.

And now he’s situated, thanks to Siyeon’s advice, in Jongin’s dance studio along with Jongin himself, of course, and dances to a classical music piece, but he has forgotten the name of the piece. 

Jongin in the background leans his butt against the wooden barre, arms folded in front of his chest, and scrutinizes in the mirror Jisung’s movements to the soft orchestral music. The dark haired man kicks his left leg forwards with pointed toes and flexed calf muscles before he pivots in a revolving whirl of sharp precision and grace. Taking a poised stride after the pirouettes, he places his foot behind his right heel, straightens his legs, and lifts his arms, forming an oval shape once the music fades out.

“That was very neat. Your pirouettes are getting better.”

“Thank you, hyung.” Jisung drops his arms on his thighs, gripping the fabric of his sweatpants tightly, his chest rises and falls rapidly, and he wipes the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. 

“You’re welcome,” says Jongin with a soft smile as unfolds his arms. “So… Are you feeling more relaxed than you did before?”

Jisung raises his head, cocking it to the side. “A tiny bit.”

“Do you want to talk about Lee Minho being your coach thing perhaps?”

“How do you know about it?” asks Jisung perplexed, his eyes wide, after he straightens his back immediately.   
  


“Sung, every news channel on social media has reported about this. I know you long enough to know that this pushed a button in your brain. Do you want to talk about it?” repeats Jongin his question 

“I don’t know.” Jisung exhales a long, shaky breath, running his hand through his greasy bangs before he captures them in his hand.

“I interpret this as a yes. Are you scared that him coaching you is an excuse for him to take a break from skating?”

Jisung bites nervously on his lower lip, his gaze darting down to his playing feet. “Maybe.” 

“I doubt that this is his reason, although a small possibility exists, but we should ignore it. What matters is that he is here right now in Incheon, because of you,” Jongin points with his index finger on him, “and you decided to keep skating, didn’t you? So make it to your advantage.”

Jongin is right. Jisung is still an official figure skater who hasn’t retired yet. This is an opportunity for to improve, to grow into a better version of himself, to prove the people that he has redeemed after his downfall at the Grand Prix Finale. Although he’s scared of getting close to Minho, where he has to expose his true self, he has to overcome his fear because only then he can achieve his goals.

  
  
  


###

  
  


His dance session at Jongin’s studio had found its end, which means for Jisung to head back home. Stepping out of the studio, he observes the sun setting behind the buildings, casting streaks of orange across the sky and coloring the remaining clouds with a hue of a feathery pink. Cars pass him by, creating a mild wind, which blows directly into Jisung’s face, and he scrunches his nose when the odor of exhaust finds its way to his nose.

Jisung doesn’t know what to do when he arrives at the guest house. Well, actually, he knows exactly what he has to do, yet he wants to avert any sort of contact with Minho since he is very very _very_ intimidated by the aura which the five-time world champion radiates. Sooner or later, he has to approach him, he’s aware of this, but he isn’t sure if he is able to handle another encounter with the older today. 

From afar Jisung spots the in front of the guest house located cherry blossoms, presenting their soft pink petals in all their glory underneath the golden sunshines. Between the gaps of the tree trunks peak cars on the parking lot among them being his brother’s black Polo. 

After walking past the trees, Jisung paces towards the entrance and steps inside, the bell above the door jingling sweetly. With a quick bow, he greets the workers in the room before he enters the apartment. What Jisung would have expected when he walked in was his family sitting on the couch in the living room, welcoming him and definitely _not_ a dozen of stacked carton boxes blocking the way to the bedrooms.

“Oh! Hi, Jisung! Nice to see you again!” Jisung stiffens at the sound of the voice. 

Minho, who’s dressed in a black T-shirt and grey, wide sweatpants, greets him with a dazzling smile once he appears from behind the white wall which separated the bedrooms from the living room.

“Can I ask why there are so many boxes in our living room?”

“Oh, you mean these bad boys here?” Minho taps on top of the nearest box. “I’m gonna live here from today on.”

Jisung gapes at the dark haired man before he winces. “Please, tell me that this is a fever dream.”  
  


“Why should this be a fever dream?” asks Minho, eyebrows snapping together.

“But how can you live here when my brother Mark lives here?” Jisung asks him back, placing his hands on his hips, completely ignoring the others question. 

That’s a blank lie. Mark shares an apartment with his close friends since three years, he sleeps in his old room whenever he is too tired to drive to his own apartment in Seoul, but Minho doesn’t need to know that. 

“Jisung, I know that your brother doesn't live here anymore. He even told me this himself.”

Jisung’s eyes snap shut, and he presses his lips into a thin line, his cheeks heating up in embarrassment from getting caught in a lie. _Fuck you, Mark hyung._

“Anyway, can you help me carrying those in _my_ room?” asks Minho him, batting his eyelashes innocently while wearing a sweet smile on his lips.

Jisung opens his eyes and nods silently his head.

“Great!” Minho beams, seeming to not give a damn for getting lied at, grabs one of the boxes, and disappears behind the wall.

Jisung fills his mouth with air, his cheeks puffing out, only to exhale it in frustration. He wraps his arms around the upper box, lifts it up and groans, he didn’t estimate the box to be so heavy. He practically runs towards the room to hinder the object from slipping out of his arms, and lays it on the ground, sending Minho an incredulous look.

“That’s so fucking heavy. What is in there? Rocks?”

Minho shakes his head. “No. Just a few items from my old home in Detroit.”

  
  
  
  


After Minho and Jisung set the last two boxes on the ground, Jisung plumps with his knees on the ground, butt on his heels, and gasps for air. Minho, on the other hand, stretches joyfully his limbs, showing Jisung his back, and is content with the boxes finally being in his room. 

“This bedroom isn’t the biggest, but it should be big enough to live in here.”

“It’s good, no need to worry,” says Minho, winking at Jisung, “another thing you shouldn’t worry about now is the coaching fee. You can pay them after you succeed. I will bill you later!”

“Thank you,” mutters Jisung.

Minho drops his arms to his sides as he turns around to Jisung, examining his appearance thoroughly. 

“I didn’t know that you wear glasses,” remarks Minho.

“Pardon?”  
  


“I said, I didn’t know that you wear glasses,” repeats Minho himself, kneeling slowly down on one knee.

Minho’s comment made Jisung realize that he had removed his contact lenses after his ballet session at Jongin’s studio. Usually, he wears his contact lenses as often as he could since they’re more useful and convenient, especially when he has to figure skate, but he’d decided to remove them. With his specs resting on his nose bridge, he probably looks like the biggest nerd on this planet right now.

“You look cute in those.”

The tips of Jisung’s ears are turning bright red as he twirls the hem of his loose T-shirt around his fingers. It’s not that he already struggles with accepting compliments, particularly flirtatious compliments, so how in the Lord’s name is he going to handle this situation.

“You know,” Minho pauses for a short second to come physically closer to Jisung, “there are many things I don’t know about you but I would like to know.”

He leans slowly closer and closer towards the young figure skater until there is a small gap between their faces, grabbing Jisung’s chin gingerly between his thumb and index finger. Jisung holds his breath, bewildered by Minho’s unexpected gesture, looking him directly in his feline shaped eyes.

“Tell me everything about you, Jisung,” begins Minho in a low voice, his voice sounding almost seductively, “where do you train? When did you start to figure skate? Is there a girl, you like? Before we start with our training session, we should get to know each other, don’t you think so?”

Jisung’s eyes widen comically before he falls back onto the ground, crawling on all his fours backwards until he reaches the door. He knows that it’s a coward move of him from backing off of Minho but the fear of getting closer to him is still more than ever present. 

The elder’s flirty façade crumbles down at Jisung’s reaction, tilting his head askew as he gazes him with a slight pout and his big, confused eyes. “Why are you running away from me?”

Jisung vigorously shakes his head. “I’m not running away from you. There’s no reason.”

Jisung is confused ― _very_ confused.

At first, Minho was all cute and sweet and now he is flirting with him. Why is he doing that? What does he want to achieve with this? 

Jisung is even more scared now to become close with him.


End file.
